MILWAUKEE -
The No. 20 Marquette women's soccer team (9-2-1, 5-0-0) heads out on its final road trip of the regular season this weekend. The Golden Eagles travel to Providence (8-5-1, 3-3-0) on Friday before heading to Connecticut on Sunday. Kick-off against the Friars is slated for 2:00 p.m. CT.

Providence went 1-1 last week with a 1-0 defeat over Depaul and a 1-0 loss to Notre Dame. Freshman Lauren Elia scored the game-winning goal for the Friars. The Golden Eagles have never lost to Providence and own a 5-0-2 all-time record dating back to 2005.

Connecticut will play USF on Friday, but also went 1-1 last weekend. The Huskies defeated DePaul, 3-2 before dropping a 4-0 contest to Notre Dame.

Last Time Out: MU extended its winning streak to six games last weekend picking up a 2-0 victory over Louisville and a 5-0 shutout of Cincinnati. Maegan Kelly led MU against Cincinnati scoring a hat-trick for nine points. Taylor Madigan and Kate Reigle also added goals for the Golden Eagles. In net, Amanda Engel and Sofie Schunk split time and each recorded one save in one half of playing time.

Jacobson and Kelly Honored: Junior defender Emily Jacobson was named BIG EAST Defensive Player of the Week and classmate Maegan Kelly was named to the BIG EAST honor roll and topdrawersoccer.com's Midfielder of the Week. Jacobson led the defense to two shutout victory's last weekend and Kelly scored a hat-trick in a 5-0 rout over Cincinnati. Jacobson also recorded three points against Louisville with her first goal of the season and an assist.

Stay CLASS-y: Senior Ally Miller has been named a 2012 Senior CLASS Award candidate. The midfielder is currently one of 30 candidates among Division I NCAA women's soccer player. The Senior CLASS Award is presented each year to the outstanding senior NCAA Division I student-athlete of the year across 10 different sports. Miller has started all but three games in her career and has helped Marquette to three-straight BIG EAST American Division Championships. In 2011 Miller was an All-BIG EAST third team selection and an NSCAA All-Northeast Region third team honoree. Miller is an advertising and marketing major with a 3.862 grade point average.

No Scoring Allowed: Marquette has recorded nine shutouts this season, including five in-a-row, which is tied with Georgetown to lead the league. The shutout percentage of .750 ranks second in the NCAA. The Golden Eagles have allowed just one goal against BIG EAST opponents, Sept. 13 at Pittsburgh. MU is 8-0-1 when producing a shutout as the lone tie came in a 0-0, double overtime draw against Central Michigan.

D-D-D Defense: Marquette is allowing less than one goal (0.83) scored per game this season, which ranks third amongst BIG EAST squads. Opponents are taking just 6.9 shots per game and have scored just 10 goals against the Golden Eagles this season. Goalkeepers Sofie Schunk and Amanda Engel rank third and fourth, respectively in the league in goals against average.

Hot Shooting: The Golden Eagles have dominated possession of the ball in recent outings. For the season, MU has taken 225 shots and is averaging 18.8 shots per game. Junior Maegan Kelly has taken a team-high 36 shots, while classmate Taylor Madigan has taken 29. As a team, MU ranks third in the conference in shots, while Kelly ranks ninth.

Helping Handouts: The Golden Eagles are among the best in the BIG EAST in giving out assists. As a squad, MU is averaging 2.75 per contest, which leads the conference. Individually, junior Maegan Kelly ranks fourth in the league and 26th in the NCAA with six total assists and ranks third with 0.50 assists per game. Classmate Kate Reigle has handed out five assists this season for seventh in the conference and is eighth in the BIG EAST with 0.42 assists per outing.

Up Next: Marquette returns home for the final three games of the regular season. The Golden Eagles will host St. John's on Friday, Oct. 12 and Kick-4-A-Cure before hosting Syracuse on Sunday, Oct. 14.